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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444692">Tea and Biscuits</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/akh/pseuds/akh'>akh</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Bodyguard (TV 2018)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Canon, F/M, UST</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 13:27:45</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,328</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23444692</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/akh/pseuds/akh</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Julia's dinner in episode 2 goes forward as planned when Indira and Sanjeev arrive. This is an alternate take on the fish and chips night.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>David Budd &amp; Julia Montague, David Budd/Julia Montague</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>152</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Tea and Biscuits</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This idea sort of came out of the blue and wanted to be written for no apparent reason, so I wrote it. I hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The wait looks excruciating, from what David can tell. Rob MacDonald’s anxious simpering is wearing Julia’s thin veneer of forbearance down to its last thread before the evening has even started. </p><p>He glances at his watch and then at Kim who shrugs almost imperceptibly. The people that were supposed to join them are late. Just as David’s eyes return to Julia, she throws a glance in his direction that speaks of the dangerously low levels of patience that are left in her reserves. He shifts slightly in response, ready to stand up and escort her out if she signals for it.</p><p>Before either of those things can happen, however, David’s attention is drawn to his earpiece which informs him that the expected guests have finally arrived in the lobby and are moving up the stairs. Another quick glance at Kim tells him she has received the same information and they both turn in unison to look at the door.</p><p>Indira and Sanjeev, as David has been briefed, are known to Julia from her time of practising law. They have also donated generously to the party and her campaigns in the past, which might account for Rob MacDonald’s presence.</p><p>Be that as it may, as the couple enter the room, the energy in it changes instantly. David can see Julia’s rigid shoulders visibly relax just before she stands up to greet her friends with a level of cordiality he has not seen her extend to anyone else in the brief time he has been assigned to her. Rob, if he is not mistaken, looks less happy about the couple’s arrival but puts on a passable display of being delighted by their presence.</p><p>As the party of four take their seats and start studying their menus, David sits back again and sets aside any thoughts of an early departure. He and Kim are not seated close enough to hear the conversation that soon rises at the table, but he can see that it is a lively one and, as he watches the apéritifs being ordered, he quietly accepts that the evening will probably be of some duration.</p><p>Having taken the first order, the waiter passes David and Kim again and pauses to inquire if they would now like to order something, but David politely declines and Kim only asks for more water.</p><p>“Do they often dine out, all four of them?” David asks under his breath after the waiter has passed. His eyes are fixed on Julia’s back with a curiosity he cannot fully account for except for the fact that this is a setting he has never before seen her in: dining out with friends, and with the appearance of actually enjoying herself.</p><p>“Not often,” Kim replies. “Not with her schedule being what it is. Usually when she does it’s just her and them, though. I don’t know how he weaseled his way in this time.” She inclines her head in the general direction of the table but it’s clear enough who she’s referring to.</p><p>David nods. Rob MacDonald looks a strange mixture of being pleased with himself and yet quietly frustrated that his attempts to turn his boss’s attention back to himself seem to be met with little reciprocation. The display could almost be amusing if it weren’t so pathetic. David’s lips twitch in a silent sneer for a moment. It’s an expression that he sees mirrored on Kim’s face when he glances at her again.</p><p>“I’d watch out for him,” she says after a brief silence. “She’ll never have him and one day he might actually take the hint, and not take it well.”</p><p>David nods gravely. He has already assumed as much.</p><p>The evening passes slowly and uneventfully. The conversation grows louder in direct proportion to the amount of wine that gets carried to the table, and occasionally David can hear snippets of it, but nothing that would rouse his interest. Mostly they appear to be speaking of things and people he knows nothing about.</p><p>He can see Rob using every opportunity to ply Julia with more wine, filling her glass as well as his own whenever he gets the chance, though if David is not mistaken, he seems to be quite bad at his game, emptying his own glass at a much more frequent rate than Julia does hers. David recalls Kim’s words then, and fixes his eyes on Rob again, trying to assess if he might present any sort of risk to his principal as the evening seems finally to be drawing to its natural close. The man’s intentions seem clear enough, but he cannot imagine that even a wine-drunk Julia would willingly invite him home with her, especially when he has managed to make himself more inebriated than anyone else at the table.</p><p>David settles his assessment at last on low risk as he watches the man hiccup and then struggle to his feet, his obvious plan of plying his boss with drinks having monumentally backfired on himself. Julia, rising from her seat soon after, fares much better and, despite a slight sway as she stands up, she still looks admirably poised as she bids her friends good night.</p><p>By this time David is already on his feet, and one look from Julia signaling her intention to start moving springs him to action. He meets her halfway across the room and Rob, still trailing behind her, catches up with her at the same moment David reaches her side.</p><p>“Julia,” he slurs, even more openly pathetic now that he is three sheets to the wind. “Can I take you home?”</p><p>David watches Julia turn to look at the man, exasperation clearly written on her face, but she doesn’t move with her usual alacrity and Rob seizes the opportunity to grab her arm before she can dodge it.</p><p>“How about a little nightcap?” he suggests in a low voice, stumbling closer.</p><p>David is about to step in when Julia yanks her own arm free and gives Rob a look that ought to sober him up.</p><p>“I think you’ve had enough to drink already,” she replies coolly. “If I were you I would go sleep that off because I expect to see you at work tomorrow.”</p><p>“Julia...” Rob starts, as if incapable of taking no for an answer in his current state. Without letting him continue, or waiting to see Julia’s response, David steps forward and places himself between his principal and the man who should know better.</p><p>For a moment, the move leaves very little space between himself and Julia. </p><p>“Ma’am,” he says, suddenly acutely aware that he can feel the warmth of her breath on his face, smell the faint whiff of alcohol that mixes with her perfume. A beat passes before he adds: “The car is waiting and the exit is clear. We should leave.”</p><p>Julia doesn’t say anything but nods slightly and steps back, naturally taking her usual position two steps ahead of David as she turns around and starts walking out of the room. David follows and doesn’t look back, certain that Rob has finally received the message as he can hear no footsteps or grovelling behind.</p><p>He catches up with Julia as she reaches the top of the stairs. His hand hovers for a moment near her shoulder blades as they both start making their way down and he steals a glance in her direction, trying to gauge her need for support. Eventually he lets his hand fall back down, however, satisfied that she’s by no means too drunk to walk down stairs without his help. If anything, such over-protectiveness might only be unwelcome.</p><p>“Thank you for that,” Julia finally says when they reach the bottom of the stairs, her diction not quite as sharp as usually. She doesn’t mention her aide but it’s clear enough what she means.</p><p>“Just doing my job, ma’am,” David replies as they keep walking. “This way, ma’am,” he adds, leading her to a side exit where the car already waits.</p><p> </p><p>By this time of night, the traffic flows easily enough and the drive to Overstrand Mansions doesn’t take very long. Julia doesn’t challenge David about the route he chooses, and as he observes her in the back seat, her face illuminated by the screen of her phone, head lolling slightly and lips curved into almost a smile as she quietly reads whatever is on her screen, he finds himself rather hoping she would take herself out more often, even if it means longer nights for himself.</p><p>He imagines Vicky at least must be happy that he isn’t at home trying to call her.</p><p>When the car pulls up in front of Julia’s house, David gets up and quickly steps over to Julia’s door, opening it for her without a word. Instinctively, his hand reaches for her elbow to offer her support before he can think to stop himself, but Julia only looks at him briefly as she scrambles out of her seat, her expression difficult to read, and then proceeds to walk ahead of him to the front door.</p><p>They greet the guard and David steps in first.  Already used to the new order of things, Julia doesn’t protest when he instructs her to wait, and when he returns to the vestibule a few minutes later, he finds her flipping through her phone again in no apparent hurry to get in.</p><p>“All clear, ma’am,” he announces to get her attention.</p><p>Julia looks up at him and puts her phone away.</p><p>“Thank you, sargeant,” she says as she walks past him, slurring a little on his title. David watches her walk into the living room and step out of her heels, swaying slightly as she does so. Then, as if aware of his eyes on her, she suddenly pauses and turns to meet his eyes. Instead of being told off, as David half expects, her expression softens as she looks at him.</p><p>“I’m sorry it’s been such a late evening,” she says. “You must wish to be home by now.”</p><p>Her apology appears sincere and the fact that she would even pause to consider it surprises David.</p><p>“It’s alright, ma’am,” he is spurred to a moment of honesty. “There is nothing waiting for me at home.”</p><p>Julia looks perplexed by this confession, and David realises the words require a further explanation.</p><p>“My wife and I...we are separated,” he says, halting a little in the middle. “The children live with their mother.”</p><p>Julia looks at him for a moment, her expression impenetrable, and then hums as she breaks eye contact.</p><p>“I’m sorry to hear that,” she says, still apparently processing the information. “I had thought...”</p><p>“The phone call with my wife?” David supplies, remembering the call from Vicky that Julia had overheard earlier. The thought brings something else back to his mind: the mystery of Charlie’s new school and his suspicion that his principal might have had something to do with it.</p><p>Julia hums again. “I suppose I made the mistake of judging by my own standards.” She shrugs off her coat and then walks over to the nearest chair to drop it there. “You’ve seen me with my darling ex-husband. We have been incapable of speaking to each other with anything other than utter contempt since before the divorce was finalised.”</p><p>David’s eyes follow her. He wonders where this conversation is leading but he doesn’t think he wants it to end.</p><p>“Don’t worry, we have our moments,” he says at last. “We’re just...trying to put the kids first.”</p><p>He cannot seem to tear his eyes from Julia and she seems to be aware of it.</p><p>“And how are they faring?” she asks, taking a couple of steps forward. Her interest appears genuine, but then again, talking to people and pretending to be interested is part of her job.</p><p>Still, it’s an opening that David can’t let pass. He looks at Julia and makes up his mind to proceed. In for a penny, in for a pound.</p><p>“We had some good news about my son’s schooling,” he says, eyes never leaving Julia’s.</p><p>She makes a passable show of looking surprised.</p><p>“I’m glad,” is all she says in response, holding David’s gaze as a tiny smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. Then she steps back again and starts shrugging off her blazer next, revealing a silky blouse and an expanse of skin underneath.</p><p>She pauses halfway, as if suddenly remembering that he might prefer her to keep her clothes on. David realises with some surprise that he has no such wish. On the contrary, he watches with rapt attention as she takes his lack of protest as a permission to continue removing the garment.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” she says, though she doesn’t look particularly sorry. “I was feeling warm.”</p><p>She is so good at passing herself off as sober that David had almost forgotten for a moment that she is decidedly not so. When he still doesn’t say anything, she saunters over to the chair that already hosts her coat and places the discarded blazer on top of it.</p><p>David tries not to look at the soft skin of her arms and eventually forces his attention further up.</p><p>“If you were involved, ma’am, my family is very grateful,” he says after a beat, deciding to persist on the earlier subject.</p><p>Julia’s eyes shoot back to David’s face. She studies him for a moment and he wonders if the removal of the blazer had been less a drunken oddity and more a calculated attempt on her side to distract him from this topic.</p><p>“Well,” she says at last, offering no further explanation. “I went into politics to help people.”</p><p>Again there is that tentative smile, and David wants to believe that it’s sincere. Despite himself, he finds his own mouth switching into a slight smile just before he looks down to break the eye contact.</p><p>A pregnant pause follows. David feels he ought to take his leave, but somehow he doesn’t want to. He tells himself it’s the empty home filled with empty beer bottles that he doesn’t want to return to, but deep down he has a sneaking suspicion that he specifically doesn’t want to leave this room. In that moment, he feels drawn to his principal in a way that at the same time both frightens and exhilarates him. He doesn’t remember the last time he has felt this way in anyone’s presence.</p><p> </p><p>In the end, it’s Julia who says the right thing.</p><p>“Well,” she exhales as if she had been holding her breath. “You don’t want to keep the back-up vehicle waiting and I should…” she trails off.</p><p>David swallows his unexpected disappointment. He isn’t sure what exactly he had been expecting anyway.</p><p>“Yes, of course.” He nods, jaw clenching. Then he gives Julia one more lingering look. “Will you be alright, ma’am?”</p><p>She looks surprised by his question and then, he thinks, rather touched by it despite showing very little emotion.</p><p>“If I have a headache tomorrow it’s nothing I haven’t brought on myself,” she replies after a beat.</p><p>“Perhaps a cup of tea before…” David starts but then thinks better of it. He must be well out of line by now.</p><p>“Before bed?” Julia finishes for him with a slight raise of a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.</p><p>“Yes, ma’am,” David replies. There’s another pause as they look at each other. “I could make it for you.”</p><p>“The tea or the bed?” Julia asks after a beat, the corner of her mouth curving up.</p><p>David can feel his pulse quicken. The joke would feel more like a joke if delivered with a less inviting smirk. </p><p>“If there are monsters under the bed then that would probably be my duty, ma’am,” he replies with his own attempt at continuing the joke. “But I meant the tea, ma’am,” he then adds, stepping forward. “Kettles can be a real danger too, in untrained hands.”</p><p>Julia humours his lame attempt with half a smile and then looks him up and down as if weighing her next words. David watches mesmerised as she sucks in the corner of her lower lip while doing so.</p><p>“Will you stay?” she asks at last. “For a cuppa,” she adds quickly. Then another realisation seems to hit her: “Gosh, you must be starving.”</p><p>He is, but not for food.</p><p>“I don’t think there’s anything in the fridge but help yourself to what you can find,” Julia continues.</p><p>“Thank you, ma’am,” David replies, jerking his neck. “I’ll...go see to that kettle now.”</p><p>“My hero,” Julia hums as she plops down on the sofa, and in that moment she seems to bear only a passing resemblance to the cold and hawkish woman he had first met not so many days ago.</p><p>David’s lips quirk into an involuntary smile as he looks at her. Then he turns quickly and makes a hurried retreat to the kitchen to compose his thoughts.</p><p>There he presses his palms against the cool surface of the kitchen counter and takes in a few deep breaths, reminding himself that the woman in the other room is the Home Secretary, his principal, the Right Honourable Julia Montague who would never look at him twice if he wasn’t paid to spend almost every waking hour with her.</p><p>After a moment, David glances behind his back and then stands up straight again. He finds the kettle on the counter and fills it with water and then leaves it to boil while he radios the back-up vehicle and makes up an excuse for his delay.</p><p>A few minutes later he has packed a tray with two cups of tea and some biscuits he found in a cupboard. Finishing the whole with a glass of plain water, he then lifts the tray and carries it to the living room, trying to steel himself against any further temptation of breaching their professional relationship.</p><p>The fact that he is carrying her tea that he intends to stay and share with her, however, seems to be quite effectively undermining any such attempts, especially when Julia looks up and smiles at him the moment she becomes aware of his approaching.</p><p>“Thank you, David,” she says as he lowers the tray on the low table between the sofas. Her eyes land on the glass of water and she smirks before picking it up and downing it in one go.</p><p>“I hope that was for me,” she says as she lowers the glass.</p><p>“It was, ma’am,” David replies and feels a smile tugging at his mouth again. They seem to be coming now at a dangerous frequency.</p><p>“You are a godsend, Mr. Budd,” she says and seems to be only half joking. “You don’t mind if I call you David, do you?” she then adds, more serious. It’s a very different tone from the haughty way in which she had used it once before, in conjunction with Dave, as a put-down.</p><p>David shakes his head. He doesn’t care about titles and, when it comes to first names, he prefers David to Dave anyway. He likes how the name rolls off her lips, and besides, ‘Dave’ reminds him too much of Vicky.</p><p>Julia hums, satisfied with his answer, and then takes a sip of her tea. David watches her reaction expectantly.</p><p>“I wasn’t sure if you would have liked sugar but I didn’t see any near the tea bags so I thought…”</p><p>“Smart,” Julia replies, putting the mug down. “Black, no sugar.” She looks up at David and then down at his mug. “I’m sure there is sugar <i>somewhere</i> in the kitchen if you’d rather have it sweet. Not sure about milk.”</p><p>David looks at Julia square in the face and shakes his head. “I don’t need it sweet,” he says simply.</p><p>Their eyes lock again and David can feel the now already familiar thrumming in his chest as he watches Julia bite her lip. If she wants to sleep with him, he wishes she would just say so. At this point, he doubts he would be able to say no.</p><p>Finally she’s the one to break eye-contact first, dropping her gaze to her mug for lack of anything else to look at, and David wonders if he is about to be sent home.</p><p>Julia only takes another sip of her tea, however, and then proceeds to sit in silence for some time. “You know, you can call me Julia when we are alone,” she says after several beats have passed. “You don’t have to if you feel it’s inappropriate, but you can,” she adds when David doesn’t immediately reply.</p><p>“Thank you,” David replies a little hesitantly. “Julia,” he tries the name on his tongue, even though he already knows he very likely won’t be using it again after this night. Like in the story that he once read to Ella, the spell would wear off after midnight, or in this case the alcohol would wear off by morning, and everything would undoubtedly return to what it had been before.</p><p>Julia, however, looks satisfied with his use of her given name and leans back on the sofa with her warm mug, lifting her legs off the floor and curling them up underneath herself.</p><p>She takes another sip of tea and David can feel her eyes on himself again. He can see, though, that she is growing quite tired and fears their strange little evening might soon be drawing to an end.</p><p>“Are you really not going to eat anything?” she asks with a stifled yawn.</p><p>As he looks at Julia, he thinks for one wild moment that what he would like to eat has not been placed on the menu, and then almost chokes on his tea at the thought. He watches Julia reach for one of the biscuits and cannot help but follow its process all the way to her mouth, first one bite and then another, until the whole biscuit has disappeared and all that’s left are the crumbs on her fingers. By now fully aware of David’s eyes on her, she proceeds to lick her thumb and then her index finger as if determined to torture him.</p><p>Finally, she lowers her hand again and they are left watching each other over the low table in a charged silence. David is suddenly acutely aware that what either of them says or does next could dramatically change the course of the evening.</p><p>A beat passes. Then another. He wonders what would happen if he stood up and walked over to her, gathered her in his arms and simply carried her to the bedroom.</p><p>Her mouth has expressed no invitation, but her eyes seem to be broadcasting a message that could be interpreted as such.</p><p>Then he takes a deep breath and reminds himself of who he is, and who she is, and how nothing can ever happen. Besides, even now she could only be toying with him.</p><p>“I’m not really all that hungry,” he says at last, hoping to sound at least a little convincing. ”In fact,” he suddenly gets up. “I should probably go.”</p><p>Julia doesn’t look surprised, and if she is disappointed, she hides it too well to tell for certain.</p><p>“Right,” she replies after a beat, slowly unfolding her legs as she too gets to her feet. “They must be getting impatient in the back-up vehicle.”</p><p>David had almost forgotten about it and now feels a genuine sense of urgency to leave. “Shit,” he mutterns.</p><p>Julia steps around the table and takes from him the mug he is still holding, a tired smile making a brief appearance on her face.</p><p>“Just tell them I was being difficult,” she says, putting down both of the mugs and then resting her hand for a moment on David’s arm. “They’ll believe it.”</p><p>When her hand slowly slides off him, David almost wants to reach for it to stop her from going. He doesn’t, though. Instead, he clenches his jaw and braces himself for the cold, empty bed that will wait for him at home.</p><p>“Thank you for the tea, ma’am...Julia,” he says when she is halfway across the room.</p><p>She pauses and turns back to look at him one more time. “I believe I should be the one thanking you for making it,” she says.</p><p>“I suppose that makes us even then,” David replies, smiling tentatively. </p><p>Julia returns the smile, equally guarded. “I suppose it does.” A beat passes and she adds: “I will see you in the morning?” It’s something between a question and a statement.</p><p>David nods. “Bright and early.”</p><p>Julia grimaces. “Don’t remind me,” she replies, running a hand through her hair, pausing on the forehead that’s probably already starting to throb.</p><p>“Good night, Julia,” David says, looking at his principal with more sympathy than he has ever done before. Then he turns on his heels and starts walking towards the door.</p><p>“Good night, David,” he hears Julia’s voice and pauses for a moment, but by the time he looks back, she has slipped into her bedroom. </p><p>Outside, the guard greets him with a look of sympathy, probably assuming he has been held back by a list of unreasonable demands that have ruined his evening. David says nothing to correct him and quickly crosses the road to the back-up vehicle that is still waiting. His colleagues easily buy into the same assumption that has gained him sympathy from the guard, and he rides quietly in the back seat as he only half listens to the talk in the front that soon turns to other matters.</p><p>David’s own thoughts remain fixed on his principal and what almost could have been. He is home sooner than he cares to be, and as he crosses the threshold into the empty apartment, he wonders if he should have made a different choice that night.</p><p>It’s the first night in a long time he forgets to even think about calling Vicky.</p>
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